When Craig Lucas stepped onto The Voice SA stage for the very last time this past Sunday, all he wanted to do was have fun, instead, he walked off as the winner of the talent shows second season. Something he never expected. The 24 year old won over South Africa with his powerful vocals and charming demeanor.
“When I got up on Sunday I was not nervous, but I was extremely emotional, I was just crying at any and everything, it was so weird. I told myself that I was going to have fun on stage, because all the voting had already been done, so South Africa had already decided who they wanted as the winner so nothing I could have done on Sunday would have changed that. I also did not think about what the outcome would be like because I had already told myself that I was not going to win,” he said.
However he did win after making it to the final two alongside Josh Ansley. “I could not believe it when they called out my name and right now I still don’t believe it. It has not sunk in yet,” he said.
Lucas, who studied politics and philosophy and is from Elsies River in Cape Town, said that he is thankful for his mother’s support and friends who pushed him to audition. “I have always loved singing but I suffered from really bad performance anxiety so I only sang at home and in the shower, never in front of people, until my friends forced me to go to the blind audition. It actually helped that the judges had their backs turned to me,” said Lucas.
“I don’t think I ever expected this journey on The Voice SA to be such an eye opening one. This show really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I have always been afraid of failure but with the help of my coach and even the producers who are always hyping us up after a performance and even advice from the other coaches, it’s been great, absolutely life changing actually,” he said.
Lucas also revealed that two weeks before the finale, he quit his office job as a financial planner. “I just decided that whether I won or not, I was going to focus on music because if I didn’t, it would be a disservice to my fans. My bosses were great though because they said they if I ever wanted to go back, they would gladly take me, now that I have won though, that won’t happen.”
After winning over coach Kahn Morbee, it did not take long for Lucas’ fan base to grow, and although there has been some negative backlash since his winning, he is not focusing on it. “I know that there have been a few things said on social media by people but I am not concentrating on that. I am concentrating on the people that voted for me, I won because of them and my plan is to make music for them, forget the haters,” he said.
He wants to makes music soon and hopes to work with his coach as well. “Kahn is such an amazing guy and I’d love nothing more than to work with him in the future. I really want to get into the studio as soon as possible. I know that I am going to have lots of meetings about the kind of music I should make but I’d love to make pop music, I think that South African pop music is in a league of it’s own and is very unique,” he said.
Right now though, the new star plans on taking his mother on a holiday and brushing up on his driving skills.